Five years after return to power, the Taliban face less isolation than ever

A shooting in Herat proves the Taliban’s critics right – with muted international responses to repression.

July 4, 2026 (The Interpreter) — Taliban gunmen shot people in the streets of Herat in early June during demonstrations against the regime’s brutal “morality police”, vindicating in the worst way possible warnings about how they would govern if permitted to return to power.

Five years after seizing Kabul and installing their second regime, the Taliban have proved their critics right, and exposed the wishful thinking of Western political and military leaders who insisted the movement had changed.

Afghanistan is a land of poverty, fear, corruption, and cruelty, run by men whom the UN Security Council consistently warns maintain close ties to transnational terrorist organisations – many of them, including Al-Qaeda, now operating under Taliban protection.